Times of Israel reports, “Jared Kushner, tasked with leading the US administration’s Middle East peace efforts by his father-in-law US President Donald Trump, said Thursday that a series of recent punitive measures against the Palestinians will help, not harm, the chances for a peace deal. Speaking on the 25th anniversary of the day that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn, sealing the Oslo Accords, Kushner said the current US administration was taking vital steps toward peace that others had failed to.”

“There were too many false realities that were created — that people worship — that I think needed to be changed,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. ‘All we’re doing is dealing with things as we see them and not being scared out of doing the right thing. I think, as a result, you have a much higher chance of actually achieving a real peace.’ Since Trump took office, Washington’s stance vis-a-vis the Palestinians has dramatically changed.” (more…)